Chapter 20
Percy
Training with both Annabeth and Percy was not fun for the Avengers. If you don't believe it, try training with a fierce and brilliant demigod, and a strategical and passionate god. As I said, not fun.
After ten minutes in the gym, they had all agreed that going to Central Park would be better than training indoors. For the mortal side, that meant fresh air. For the godly side, that meant more space to run, battle and do tiring things in general.
Percy helped them by keeping up the mist barrier so they would not be attacked by the two most feral beasts out there: monsters and the press.
The new power marveled Annabeth for some reason; she said it was profusely related with architecture for the strength that keeping up each part meant. She helped Percy learn how to make a stronger barrier with less energy, all with some few calculus she made about its structure, which would have fallen down if it wasn't magically done. Percy suddenly remembered why he loved her intelligence. Midway through Annabeth's brainstorm about how to improve it with lots of technical vocabulary, Percy got lost, but he kept on listening intently, more fascinated by her passion than by what she was saying in itself.
"Alright, I think that's enough." Percy laughed. "We should start training before it gets too dark."
Annabeth huffed. "Whatever."
They spent the rest of the day combining strengths and powers for greater results. Because of his previous little 'encounter' with Zeus, Percy knew that having electrified water was something pretty useful, so Thor helped him with it again. Percy also remembered jumping from Steve's shield the first time they met, so he did it again and again until they both perfected the technique. Annabeth also proposed that he redirected arrows and throwing knives with the water particles in the air, but Percy assured her that bad accuracy wasn't a problem in his team.
"I'll let one monster come in, stay alert," Percy said.
"Wait! I have new weapons for this. We can't have you fight with that common and useless metal now can we?" Annabeth said and proceeded to shuffle through her almost forgotten backpack, which rested at the side of a nearby tree.
The demigod first took out a quiver with a single arrow and handed it to Hawkeye. "It's a gift from Artemis so don't take it lightly. She was a little disappointed to hear that the only archer of the group was a man but she still wanted to help so... There you go. It will never run out of arrows." Clint prayed in silence for a second after receiving it, obviously thanking the goddess. No matter how religious you were or weren't, you had to thank the gods if they ever gave you a present. He probably used the right words since he wasn't reduced to mashed man afterwards.
Next, she took out a box that seemed to hold every single variety of deadly-sharp knives inside and passed it to the Black Widow. "Artemis also says it's a shame you grew up instead of remaining youthful with her Hunters. She says you're respectable, though." And then the red-headed sent a quick prayer thanking the hunting goddess.
Then, Annabeth took out a shield and only then did Percy realize that the backpack was enchanted. "This was made by Hephaestus himself and it's around five times harder than the one you have now. It has a very sharp edge so be careful," she said and passed the shield to Captain America, who took it gratefully and prayed to the god of blacksmiths.
The daughter of Athena took out a pair of Hulk-sized knuckle busters from her bag and handed them to Bruce. "Ares was quite proud of this specific pair of weapons. They were made for the big guy, but if you put them on they adjust to you. That last part was a little gift from Hecate." Bruce nodded, reached out for them and then prayed once he had them.
"And for Iron Man over here, I have this Celestial Bronze plates provided by Hephaestus, who firmly believed you'd rather make your own weapons."
"And he was completely right," the billionaire said with shiny eyes while accepting the gift and sending a rushed prayer.
"The gods said that Thor's hammer works with Greek and Roman monsters, is that true?" she said and turned to the god, who nodded in confirmation. "Now, these weapons aren't exclusively made out of Celestial Bronze, they all have diamond in the middle, provided by Hades. Why is this important? Because it means that they will also work in the unlikely case of having mortals as enemies too. Once the war is over, you can keep them, but I'd recommend not using them as your regular weapons so as to not raise suspicions. In addition, it'd be wiser to keep the irreplaceable weapons for the monsters that will surely go after you for revenge," Annabeth told the group.
"Can I let the monsters come in now?" Percy asked her.
"Not yet," she said and then elaborated. "You see, we were lucky that you fought only those two monsters before Poseidon told you the truth. A drakon and the Minotaur are great opponents, but they don't have the brains to understand a fight further than that it means destruction. When they went back to the Pit, they couldn't inform their master about the way you killed them because they neither understood it nor could communicate it. We must keep it that way. If, for example, a dracaenae saw you use blood-bending, we'd be doomed."
"That makes sense, but what about Akhlys? She knows the truth, then why didn't she say it?" Percy asked, hoping she had an answer.
"Two reasons: she's afraid of you and it's partially her fault. The only reason why you survived was the Death Mist, which she gave you, so she will obviously abstain from telling her master that she turned his enemy into the most powerful of his kind," she explained. It was obviously true, but Percy would have never thought of that since it would require him thinking he was the most powerful and that even a goddess would fear him. None of those things were unknown to Percy, but they surely weren't the first thing that came to his mind, he was way too humble for that.
"Ok... But I also killed a lot of monsters after Poseidon told me about the whole unification thingy... Did I expose myself?" He frowned in thought. "No, I think I just used Riptide and a weaker version of the water barrier. So, is it fine?" he asked her.
"Yeah, the monsters probably felt the trace of your father's powers in the barrier and supposed he was helping you. You didn't do a great hand movement or anything of that kind to form it, did you?" she asked and sighed in relief when Percy shook his head. "Then everything's fine."
"Alright, I guess. I'll let only some select monsters pass so there's no problem."
"Go ahead." She smiled.
And so it started. A couple drakons, the chimera, some pit scorpions and a pair of hydras (only defeated because of Tony's beams). Two hours and a half later, it was too dark for them to continue so they went back to the tower.
On their way back, Percy spotted a family. There were to girls holding hands, and one of them carried a boy of about four, who was telling 'mama' to look at his action figure. They seemed happy and carefree. Percy looked around and this time he saw a group of teens playing with a very excited dog. None of those situations were uncommon, but they hit Percy like a brick. He was reminded that, even if the world was on the brink of destruction (again) and the war was just about to explode, the mortals' lives went on because of their blissful ignorance.
.ψψψ.
Annabeth and Percy laid together in the latter's bed, though only one would be able to sleep that night.
Annabeth stared at the sea-green eyes she loved, and those stared right back at her with just as much affection. Percy reached out to caress her soft blonde locks of hair, admiring her beauty without forgetting that her personality and intelligence were even better.
"Would you sing for me?" she asked him silently. He held her closer before starting to sing, a strangely melodious voice leaking from his mouth in a much softer version than that of the original song, lulling her to sleep.
"If you need me, I'll be right there
When you're dreaming all your nightmares
I'll come tackle the monsters
I'll find where they hide in the nighttime
If you need me, I'll be right there
When you're happy and when you're scared
I can still be your shoulder
I'll be by your side even if I'm not next to you" He saw Annabeth's eyes flutter shut as he started, and by the end of the stanza, her breath had steadied and she was fast asleep. Days without rest had had a big effect on her, and her fiancé was happy to see her finally sleep peacefully.
Percy sighed and held her for the rest of the night, cherishing her company.
Tony
Annabeth left the following day after breakfast and, for the first time since he became an Avenger, Percy used shorts and a short-sleeved tee shirt. Even after knowing his complete story, everyone that entered the room stopped dead on their tracks to stare at his scars because hell there were millions. If the team had had any doubt about the torture happening often, then they didn't any longer; Tony sure didn't.
The billionaire looked down at his own chest, easily spotting the Arc Reactor, which shone lightly. Most people ignorantly considered it only the power source for his suits, but he also considered it a scar; it wasn't even part of his own body but it was something that he gained after a big injury, and it kept him alive.
Tony tried to compare his Arc Reactor to Percy's scars, but they were infinitely different. While Percy's were caused by brute violence, that hole in his chest was caused by technology. But, Tony realized dryly, they were both product of war and revenge.
And that pissed him off.
Was he pissed off for himself? Not really, he was only egocentric for the public. No, he was pissed off for the kid in front of him because yes, even if he said he wasn't, he was a kid, and no one, even less someone his age, should have that many scars. It was horribly fascinating the way all those blemishes littered each centimeter of his skin, marking it in an intricate and permanent way that told his story and showed all the physical pain he had endured.
Tony only then realized how much he admired the boy. It wasn't due to all he had done to save the world thrice before, it wasn't for his undeniable wit, it wasn't fully for all he was doing to prepare and help them; no, it was because even after all that, he kept holding on, regardless of how much pain he'd have to take for it.
Bruce
Percy was literally eating cereal, but Bruce still looked at him in admiration. He knew that, no matter what he had done, he was still a person, but he couldn't help but appreciate the immense self-control that the boy had. In his place, he would have already Hulked out or, at least, insulted the gods in a quite colorful manner. But no, Percy just ate his cereal tranquilly.
Lately, he had become increasingly obsessed with the topic of control over himself. It's not that he hadn't been before, but seeing Percy made Bruce realize that he was far from mastering it, and that scared him immensely. He appreciated the effort the god made to help them, but it still made him nervous to realize that he wasn't as experienced as he had hoped he was. So, even if there were a lot of things to admire of Percy, Bruce focused greatly in his self-control.
The god had explained to him how to keep himself under control, and it sure was useful, but only to a certain extent because he wasn't as experienced at it as Percy was. After reading his life, Bruce understood Percy had needed it to survive, but that didn't mean it wasn't fascinating.
However, cereal wasn't a life-threatening topic so Percy began whining about it like he lacked all self-control.
"I still don't get why you don't buy blue food-coloring, it's essential." He pouted. That small action generated a great contrast with his background and with the scars currently visible in his body.
And the Avengers despised it.
Yes, Percy had a praiseworthy wisdom, a meritorious self-control, an applaudable intelligence, and more things to admire than Bruce could count in both his hands, but he was just a kid. All he knew was learnt because he had to, not because he wanted to. He didn't mature at a normal pace because he had had to deal with an immense weight in his shoulders since he discovered his parentage. And his team loathed that fact.
Without knowing it, they all made a silent vow to give him a childhood, to let him be childish and to just live before the war started, because once it did, there would be no turning back.